Harbor Seals

When I think of seals, I tend to think of slick grey animals that chill on the ice(get the pun) and sometimes are lunch for polar bears. It was not until a few years ago that I figured that is not the case, and seals actually can live in areas that are only a couple of miles from the desert. They steam on the sand(did that work?). Seals are quite diverse, and live in a variety of environments.

And one of these species is called the harbor seal, or Phoco Vitulina. This is a species that thrives in the chilly waters of northern/central California. And I fortunately got the opportunity to witness the pretty unique animals.

Before I move on to the more serious parts about the harbor seal, one thing needs to be established. While extremely graceful and strong in water, they have struggles while on land. I was watching a couple of them climbing up on land, and it looked like it was a lot of work. The seal would come out of the water, and then wriggle around trying to move until the next wave came in and pushed them a little farther up the beach. This kept happening till finally no more water could push them up. However, luckily at this point, enough seals are also sitting there that the incoming seals can use them to get a little higher up on the beach. It was pretty funny to watch. That being said, when watching them swimming it was completely different and you knew that the sea was their domain. When swimming, the seals were clearly all muscle and extremely graceful. 

After watching them for a while, I got to identify a couple of the seals and their pups. And I started to appreciate them a lot more. And when I read a signboard about the endangered status of the seals, and how different activities are endangering them.

Some of them are:

• incidental capture in fishing gear, including
  • gill nets
  • trawls
  • purse seines
  • weirs
• ship strikes
• oil spill exposure
• chemical contaminants
• power plant entrainment
• harassment by humans while hauled out on land

And the worst part was that most of it was avoidable and because of human error while in the pursuit of more wealth. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution. However, this experience was unique, and has definitely motivated me to be more aware of what is going on around me!

How do Fish Survive in the Cold

Right now, here in Minnesota we are in a cold snap. Actually that may be an understatement. Right now, it is so cold that school has been cancelled 2 times in the past two weeks and two more days of school may be cancelled next week. The reason being...it is -30F with windchill! This pretty much never happens and could be a sign of the apocalypse. Also, because of this, many ice fishers are deciding to skip the fishing trip and move it to a later date. However, this got me thinking. While the ice fishers are on break, the fish are not. How are they surviving in this -30F weather?

I did some research on this topic and came up with some pretty interesting, and not at all obvious reasons. One of the first reasons that the fish survive in cold water is because of a property of solid water. Ice is less dense than liquid water, so when the water freezes it does not sink to the bottom, but instead floats to the top. This prevents the cold from freezing the whole lake.

Availability of oxygen is the second reason. As the water gets colder, it allows for more oxygen to be absorbed in water. Therefore more oxygen is available to the fish. However, not all of the water chills. Once a certain depth is achieved, the temperature of the water will increase and fish can take refuge in this warmer water. Often times, they will burrow in the mud and gravel, as well as in the surviving plants so that heat can be trapped and they are protected.

A third factor is the change in level of activity and food consumption. Certain fish species remain active throughout the winter and because of the increased oxygen, are able to go into certain waters they could not before. This gives more hunting grounds and prey. An example of some of the fish that fit this profile is lake trout and white fish. Other species become much slower and sluggish, and decrease their metabolism. This allows for them to use the extra oxygen for their most basic needs and decreases food consumption drastically. Some examples of these slower fish are Bullhead and Carp.

However, in certain situations, the temperatures are extreme, and the fish living in these environments need additional adaptations. The following was one of the coolest things I discovered. In the arctic, a lot of fish prefer to live near the ice because it provides food as well as protection from predators. However, this results in the danger that their blood will freeze. Therefore, to allay this problem, these fish produce antifreeze glycoproteins.  Their blood has chemicals, essentially that prevent it from freezing. I can't help but wonder if this is where we got out idea to put anti-freeze in fuel!

Fish are surprisingly interesting and extremely hardy in a lot of ways. When reading about some of these adaptations, I could not help but be impressed!

Diving and Puzzles

These past few days I have been feeling like diving as well as philosophical. I think I will try and combine these thoughts so they do not keep running around in my head.:)

Last summer I became a certified diver. I was super excited during the whole experience and had a blast. The best thing was when I first reached the ocean floor. I was diving in Mexico, where the water is super clear.  It has high visibility, and one can literally see 30-40 feet away clearly. The location was at the Cancun Underwater Museum. This is a location where there are a lot of submerged statues. On these pieces coral is growing and a ton of fish like to hang out around these corals and peck at them. Even better, because so many divers pass by everyday, they will not flee when the bubbles rise up from the regulator. 

Earlier, I had been snorkeling at this site. This location seemed pretty fun while snorkeling, but the diving experience was even better. When you touch the floor, you can see a lot of different types of sea life that are not as accessible from the surface. One example was this little crab. It was about the size of my palm (I have small hands)! It lived in little holes in the sand, and dug itself many tunnels to travel around in. The guide who was with us showed us many other animals, such as this rainbow colored snail as well as multiple Barracuda sharks. These fish were almost as big us! As the dive went further on,  I soon realized that no matter where you step, tons of marine life is there, it is just that most of them are invisible. Just lifting a rock will cause tons of tiny little fish to swim out from under it.

It was this that got me thinking that how everything in the environment is a small piece of a giant interlocking puzzle. Most of the pieces are invisible to the casual watcher, but if one investigates further it is possible to see some of the links. And each piece is important. Otherwise the puzzle is missing a piece and certain consequences that are unwanted could occur.

After this realization, I was much more careful about where I put my gear and fins. I realized how careless I was earlier and that discretion was important when one is diving. I did not want to be responsible for killing the last of a certain species, or breaking up a family of some marine animal. I was just a visitor and I did not want to disrespect them.

Diving is a super fun sport, and I am glad that I got this opportunity to explore a new area. It was interesting and I got to see things that I would not have been able to see otherwise. And I also learned a lesson on respecting the environment around me! All in all, it was a really good experience and I cannot wait to dive again.

Here are some cool pictures of the Cancun Underwater Museum I found on the internet:

I Present you the Blobfish

When most people think of fish, generally I will about a fish that looks like a "normal" fish, like a guppy or a goldfish maybe. If I want to think more exotic, than I would think of a shark or some cool eel. However, when surfing the net, I found something a bit more exotic...if exotic is the right word.

The fish I found does not really look like a fish that much. It looks more like a mass of slime. Well, slime with a pair of eyes and a nose. At first I did not believe it was an actual fish and thought it was a hoax. I found out later though that it actually exists, and is pretty amazing.

So, without any more delay...I present you the Blobfish( Psychrolutes marcidus) !

  

At first glance, the fish looks admittedly repulsive, and it is hard to appreciate them. However, if one looks into the details of how the fish survives, it is actually pretty amazing. They have adaptations that let them survive in conditions that most other species would implode in. The natural habitat of the Blobfish is in the deep waters of the coast of Australia. At that depth, the pressure is so great that most fish not be able to deal with the massive amounts of pressure being exerted on them. However, the Blobfish has a different sort of anatomy that lets it deal with the pressure.  Henry Reich for Minute Earth: “Unlike most other fish, the ones that live in these depths don’t have gas-filled cavities like swim bladders that would collapse under the extreme pressure. In fact, super-deep water fish often have minimal skeletons and jelly-like flesh, because the only way to combat the extreme pressure of deep water is to have water as your structural support.” So we can forgive these fish for their unsightly appearance as it is this same factor that makes them such masters within the harsh environment of the deep waters.

The picture above shows the fish in its out of water state, where the pressure of the ocean is not giving it a structure. When it is in the water, it actually looks like this:

Clearly, this a unique species of fish, that has amazing adaptations. But before you guys leave though, here are some pictures that I found that gave me a laugh.:) We need to take some comedic value, right?

Citations:

-http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2013/09/in-defense-of-the-blobfish/

Decreasing the footprint

The ocean is an incredibly important place. It seems that everything that we use is somehow connected to the ocean. A couple of weird examples are that lipsticks have kelp in them and saltwater is part of aerosols. Some more "normal" examples are the seaweed for sushi and the different species of fish we eat. Lots and lots of fish!

Also, the ocean helps regulate the climate. The vast amount of water is able to absorb some of the heat and decrease the temperature fluctuations. It acts as a stabilizing agent. This protects different species, including humans from being negatively impacted.

Clearly, the ocean has a big impact on our lives. I shall quickly go on a rant here. I just had this weird thought as I was typing that the plastic keys I am pressing have ocean oil in them. And the pencil eraser that I was using a couple of minutes ago has algae.... the same creepy plant that I hate touching my ankles when diving! It kind of feels surreal, as no matter where one is on dry land, the ocean is somehow there. Even while taking a test at school, I am carrying seaweed in my pencil!

The ocean gives so much to us, that humans have an obligation to protect it and keep it healthy. One can make the analogy of a friend. If someone does something nice for us, often times a lot of people would want to do something nice in return to thank them for their favor. It is same with the ocean. It is giving us a gift of products, as well as life. The fact that the ocean is there is what is allowing for humans to be able to survive. We owe to the ocean that we improve our daily behavior so that the environment around us is not as affected.

Most of the things that we could do are quite simple. One of them is to take shorter showers, as well as not throwing out the extra water after one takes a drink. All this will make sure that water is not wasted and more of it can stay in its natural environment. Also, certain washing machines are more water efficient, and these are good option as one will save a lot of water.

These are pretty simple ones that I know I am going to start following more. Hopefully, it will decrease my footprint on the ocean!